Public Recordshttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/public-records
en-usFri, 09 Dec 2016 10:47:34 -0500Fri, 09 Dec 2016 10:47:34 -0500The latest news on Public Records from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-lawmakers-use-telegram-app-2016-3San Francisco lawmakers use a secret messaging app to keep chats from prying public eyeshttp://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-lawmakers-use-telegram-app-2016-3
Wed, 16 Mar 2016 19:25:56 -0400Matt Rosoff
<p><img class="center float_right" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/566210e9c2814477008b7a1b-2479-1653/shutterstock_120034555.jpg" alt="san francisco" data-mce-source="Shutterstock" /></p><p>Telegram, a self-destructing messaging app, has become popular among San Francisco public officials as a way to evade public-records laws, says a report in <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/how-telegram-offers-way-around-public-records-laws?shared=ffdcce">The Information</a>.</p>
<p>California&nbsp;law says that texts and emails are considered part of the public record if they relate to public business, according to a guide from the city attorney.</p>
<p>A lot of other chat services encrypt messages so they can't be read by anybody but the intended recipient.&nbsp;But those messages could theoretically be grabbed from devices with the proper court order.</p>
<p>Telegram lets users set messages to self-destruct on devices used for the chat so they cannot be seen after a certain time period.</p>
<p>Several San Francisco supervisors &mdash; the city-council members who make many of the city's laws &mdash; are reportedly using the app. One unnamed government staff member said in the report that they were encouraged to use it as a way of bypassing public records.</p>
<p>Telegram rose to notoriety after it was apparently used by ISIS members to&nbsp;spread propaganda. Telegram <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/popular-messaging-app-telegram-just-dealt-a-potential-blow-to-isis-2015-11">shut down almost 80 such channels</a>&nbsp;in November.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-incredible-life-of-pavel-durov-the-entrepreneur-known-as-the-mark-zuckerberg-of-russia-2016-3" >The incredible life of Pavel Durov — 'Russia's Mark Zuckerberg'</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-lawmakers-use-telegram-app-2016-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/photo-series-reveals-true-proportions-huge-objects-2016-11">These size comparisons show the true scale of enormous things</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/ny1-sues-nypd-over-36000-bill-2016-1The NYPD is charging a news station $36,000 to view police body cam footagehttp://www.businessinsider.com/ny1-sues-nypd-over-36000-bill-2016-1
Fri, 15 Jan 2016 22:34:20 -0500Mark Abadi
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5699b9d1e6183e1d008ba02f-3110-2333/rtr4gl8w.jpg" alt="NYPD police body camera" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton" data-mce-caption="A police body camera is seen on an officer during a news conference on the pilot program involving 60 NYPD officers dubbed 'Big Brother' at the NYPD police academy in the Queens borough of New York, December 3, 2014." /></p><p>A television news station in New York is suing the New York Police Department for charging $36,000 to view police body camera footage.</p>
<p>Citing the state's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), reporter Courtney Gross with cable news station NY1 requested in April that the department provide her with 190 hours of unedited body camera footage.</p>
<p>Four months later, the police department told NY1 that it would only provide the station redacted footage, and it would cost $36,000.</p>
<p>The station, owned by Time Warner Cable, is "seeking to vindicate NY1 and the people's right to footage" with its lawsuit, filed on Wednesday and <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/01/14/network-sues-nypd-over-charging-36k-for-body-cam-footage/">reported Thursday</a> by the New York Post.</p>
<p>"Access to such information should not be thwarted by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality," <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2690741-NY1-NYPD-Lawsuit.html">the lawsuit reads</a>.</p>
<p>The NYPD defended the $36,000 bill in a September letter to the network:</p>
<p class="DV-textContents" style="padding-left: 30px;">The [records access officer's] estimate of the cost of processing a copy of the [body camera footage] was reasonable based on an estimate that the total time of footage recorded during the five weeks specified in the FOIL request was approximately 190 hours, and that in addition to the 190 hours required to View the recordings in real time, an additional 60% (or 114 hours) will be required to copy the Footage in a manner that will redact the exempt portions of the [footage], for a total of approximately 304 hours.</p>
<p class="DV-textContents" style="padding-left: 30px;">The lowest paid NYPD employee "with the skills required to prepare a redacted copy of the recordings is in the rank of police officer, and <strong>the cost of compensating a police officer is $120.00 per hour.</strong> Multiplying $120.00 by 304 hours equals $36,480, which closely approximates the amount estimated by the [records access officer].</p>
<p class="DV-textContents" style="padding-left: 30px;">This approximate cost does not include the time required to locate and collate the recordings, for which no charge is made, as that time is a part of the search for responsive records, and not a part of the time required for copying.</p>
<p><a href="http://gawker.com/nypd-demands-36-000-copying-fee-for-access-to-cops-1752989616">As Gawker pointed out</a>, it is unclear how the police department arrived at the $120-per-hour compensation rate, which would suggest a New York police officer earns nearly $250,000 a year.</p>
<p>In her appeal to the police department, Gross called the proposed fee "an unreasonable bar to public access."</p>
<p>"We believe this fee &hellip; undercuts the purpose and scope of FOIL: to foster transparency and trust between government and the citizenry," she wrote.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/foil2.html#s87">New York's Freedom of Information Law</a>, if a records request takes longer than two hours to fulfill, an agency can charge to cover the employee's time.</p>
<h2>You can read the entire lawsuit <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2690741-NY1-NYPD-Lawsuit.html">here</a>.</h2><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ny1-sues-nypd-over-36000-bill-2016-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/law-professor-lecture-making-a-murderer-2016-1">A law professor tricked his students into lying, which shows why you should never talk to police</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/sen-john-cornyn-talks-aaron-swartz-2013-1Texas Senator Wants To Know Whether Prosecutors Were Going After Aaron Swartz For Political Retaliationhttp://www.businessinsider.com/sen-john-cornyn-talks-aaron-swartz-2013-1
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:17:00 -0500Abby Rogers
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/50f9b78569beddff18000024-401-300/aaron-swartz-2.jpg" border="0" alt="aaron swartz" width="401" height="300" /></p><p>A top Senate Republican is suggesting the federal government harshly prosecuted Aaron Swartz because the Internet activist asked for too much information.</p>
<p>After Swartz killed himself last week in his New York apartment, his family <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/statement-family-aaron-swartz-2013-1">said prosecutors' criminal hacking case</a> spurred the 26-year-old to take his own life.</p>
<p>But Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, has a totally different take.</p>
<p>In a letter sent Friday to Attorney General <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/eric-holder" class="hidden_link">Eric Holder</a>, Cornyn <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/jan/18/top-senator-scolds-holder-over-reddit-founders-sui/">is questioning whether prosecutors</a> were too overzealous in the case, The Washington Times reported Friday.</p>
<p>Cornyn wonders if the government was trying to get back at Swartz for making too many Freedom of Information Act requests.</p>
<p>"Was the prosecution of Mr. Swartz <a href="http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=InNews&amp;ContentRecord_id=b026c108-ff4c-4ff9-a771-7307c72e14c5&amp;ContentType_id=b94acc28-404a-4fc6-b143-a9e15bf92da4&amp;f6c645c7-9e4a-4947-8464-a94cacb4ca65&amp;Group_id=bf378025-1557-49c1-8f08-c5df1c4313a4">in any way retaliation for his exercise</a> of his rights as a citizen under the Freedom of Information Act?" Cornyn said in the letter. "If so, I recommend that you refer the matter immediately to the Inspector General."</p>
<p>Swartz has a long history of questioning the government.</p>
<p>The activist filed his first FOIA request in 2010, reportedly looking for information about himself.</p>
<p>Just two months before he died <a href="http://pubrecord.org/nation/10676/aaron-swartzs-requests-light-struggle/">Swartz asked the US Mint</a> for copies of its 2005 survey that found 147 million adults still collect state quarters, The Public Record reported Friday.</p>
<p>Cornyn's suggestion that Swartz's FOIA requests led to his prosecution comes following fringe conspiracy theories about how his death had something to do with his political stance towards The White House.</p>
<p>Iran's Press TV <a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/01/16/283786/us-activist-swartz-buried-in-chicago/">said Swartz was openly critical</a> of President Barack Obama's supposed "kill list" and bashed the administration for launching cyber attacks against Iran.</p>
<p>And blogger Sorcha Faal has <a href="http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1646.htm">cited a report from the Kremlin</a> that states Swartz was "'in all probability' suicided by forces loyal to the Obama regime seeking to 'set an example' for other dissident forces opposed to the American government's continued crackdown on leakers of US secrets."</p>
<p>Bottom line: The implication that the prosecution had anything to do with DC politics, and not choices made by the DA, is far outside of what anyone in the mainstream is suggesting.</p>
<p><strong>DON'T MISS: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-details-about-aaron-swartz-case-2013-1">Prosecutors Knew Aaron Swartz Was A Suicide Risk But Were 'Heedless' In Their Pursuit Of Him, Says Lawyer &gt;</a></strong></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sen-john-cornyn-talks-aaron-swartz-2013-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-gun-law-hurts-public-records-2013-1NY Law Would Protect Firearm Owners' Privacy After Gun Map Controversyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-gun-law-hurts-public-records-2013-1
Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:46:50 -0500Abby Rogers
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/50edf03569bedd8843000029-400-300/andrew-cuomo-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Andrew Cuomo" /></p><p>In addition to placing landmark restrictions on gun ownership, the gun bill working its way through the New York legislature could give gun owners new privacy rights.</p>
<p>After The Journal News in Westchester, N.Y. used the Freedom of Information Act <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gun-owners-freak-out-after-newspaper-publishes-their-names-and-addresses-2012-12">to publish a map</a> revealing the names and addresses of registered gun owners in Westchester and Rockland counties, some politicians apparently decided it was time for change.</p>
<p>State Sen. Greg Ball and Assemblyman Steve Katz, both Republicans, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/politicians-attack-the-journal-news-2013-1">announced earlier this month</a> they want a law making any information about handgun permits confidential.</p>
<p>And it seems they got their wish.</p>
<p>Part of the new gun law <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ny-gun-bill-toughen-tough-law-18217099">amends state public records laws</a> to <strong>protect gun owners from being publicly identified</strong>, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.</p>
<p>Essentially, if the new provisions are passed, information on gun owners is exempt from public records laws that normally allow newspapers or private citizens access to certain information the government collects.</p>
<p>The gun control provisions passed the state Senate late Monday night and are being considered today by the Assembly.</p>
<p><strong>DON'T MISS: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-takes-on-privacy-debate-2013-1">Is There Really A Difference Between Publishing Gun Owners' Addresses And Letting The Government Spy On You? &gt;</a></strong></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-gun-law-hurts-public-records-2013-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/this-port-authority-police-sergeant-doubled-his-salary-with-overtime-pay-2012-6A Port Authority Police Sergeant Doubled His Salary With Overtime Payhttp://www.businessinsider.com/this-port-authority-police-sergeant-doubled-his-salary-with-overtime-pay-2012-6
Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:54:00 -0400Callie Bost
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4fe09db26bb3f7dd4e000012/port-authority-police-car.jpg" border="0" alt="Port Authority police car" /></p><p>Port Authority Police Department Sgt. Edwin Rivera is cashing in on overtime hours, so much that <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/pa_police_ot_sarge_livin_large_RjaEvsSKBB7VhOrlH0E8dI" target="_blank">the <em>New York Post</em> dubbed him "the Port Authority's undisputed overtime king."</a></p>
<p>Rivera earned $273,946 in 2011, including $166,035 in overtime pay &mdash; more than double his base salary of $107,911.</p>
<p><span>Rivera's duty as sergeant is to oversee police officers working the PATH line.&nbsp;Rivera's hourly wage is already a nice $51.88, but for overtime hours, that wage increases to $77.82.&nbsp;Overtime pay is 1.5 times a worker's normal hourly rate if he exceeds 40 hours a week.</span></p>
<p><span>Rivera worked 41 extra hours a week on average in 2011 to earn that much overtime pay.</span></p>
<p>Wait...you're allowed to work that much? <a href="http://www.labor.ny.gov/workerprotection/laborstandards/faq.shtm#5" target="_blank">According to New York's labor laws</a>, you can. And the Port Authority is notorious for&nbsp;granting its sergeants and lieutenants incredulous hours of overtime instead of increasing their base pay or hiring more workers. <em><a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sarges_surging_in_pa_police_ot_MphhiLzCEzIGPELYVHsfaP" target="_blank">The</a></em><a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sarges_surging_in_pa_police_ot_MphhiLzCEzIGPELYVHsfaP" target="_blank"><em> Post</em> ha</a><a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sarges_surging_in_pa_police_ot_MphhiLzCEzIGPELYVHsfaP" target="_blank">s even called them out on it.</a></p>
<p>Rivera has used overtime pay to his advantage in other years, too. Here is a <a href="http://seethroughny.net/payrolls/public-authorities/" target="_blank">breakdown of his salaries</a> in years past, according to the Post's research on <a href="http://seethroughny.net/" target="_blank">SeeThroughNY.</a><a href="http://seethroughny.net/">net</a>:</p>
<p><span>In 2010, he earned $259,304, including $152,193 in overtime pay.</span></p>
<p><span><span>In 2009, he earned $228,460, including $126,251 in overtime pay.</span><span><br /></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>In 2008, he earned $220,257, including $124,581 in overtime pay.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span>This year, Rivera has already clocked 888 hours of overtime through the end of May, amounting to $69,164 of overtime pay so far. Looks like the overtime king is on track to earn more than ever this year.</span></span></span></span></p>
<h2><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-screwed-workers-out-of-overtime-wages-2012-5" target="_blank">Now, read about Wal-Mart's fine for not paying workers overtime wages &gt;</a></h2><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-port-authority-police-sergeant-doubled-his-salary-with-overtime-pay-2012-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/this-penn-state-scandal-is-exactly-why-the-states-public-records-need-to-be-more-open-2011-11How Penn State Sucks Up Taxpayer Money And Hides Its Ugly Behaviorhttp://www.businessinsider.com/this-penn-state-scandal-is-exactly-why-the-states-public-records-need-to-be-more-open-2011-11
Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:23:00 -0500Luke O'Brien
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4eb97e5269bedd1031000031/penn-state.jpg" border="0" alt="penn state" /></p><p>A scandal the magnitude of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case has a way of shifting legal talking points, perhaps even changing state code. Let's hope it does. Because if all the nastiness about Sandusky is true, one of the main reasons for the protracted time-span of the abuse is Penn State's ability to hide behind toothless open records laws, all while hoovering up taxpayer money. The <a href="http://www.budget.psu.edu/openbudget/default.aspx">university's 2011-12 budget</a> includes $279 million in state appropriations. Yet the only information about Penn State available to the taxpayer is some salary data and an IRS 990 report. For lack of a better word, that's bullshit.</p>
<p>Yesterday, I submitted a lengthy list of public records requests to Penn State seeking e-mails and other documents related to Sandusky. I received a brief reply this morning from Amy Elizabeth McCall, the school's assistant general counsel, denying all of my requests:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While the Pennsylvania State University (University) recognizes the current public interest in the requested information, please be advised the University is not a "Commonwealth agency" as defined under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law (RTKL), 65 P.S. &sect; 67.701 et seq.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not a Commonwealth agency, even though the university spends $290 million in state money? What does that make State College, then? A neighborhood in East Berlin? I was shocked to learn that Pennsylvania open records law used to be even more restrictive. Until 2009, every record was considered closed. Then the Right to Know Law was passed. But a handful of schools that take public money managed to preserve their non-agency status: Penn State, Temple, the University of Pittsburgh, and Lincoln.</p>
<p>"These institutions have enjoyed a controversial and blanket exemption," said Terry Mutchler, the executive director of <a href="http://openrecords.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/open_records/4434">Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records.</a></p>
<p>It's impossible to say what could have been prevented if journalists or the public had better access to PSU records. But this Sandusky business is exactly why such records should be open.</p>
<p><em>This <a href="http://deadspin.com/5857531/">post</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://deadspin.com/">Deadspin</a>.</em></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-penn-state-scandal-is-exactly-why-the-states-public-records-need-to-be-more-open-2011-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/justice-department-ditches-proposed-foia-rule-that-would-hide-public-records-2011-11Department Of Justice Ditches Proposed FOIA Rule That Would Hide Public Recordshttp://www.businessinsider.com/justice-department-ditches-proposed-foia-rule-that-would-hide-public-records-2011-11
Sun, 06 Nov 2011 10:30:00 -0500Jennifer LaFleur
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pixel.propublica.org/pixel.js" async="true"></script>
<p>Last week, <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/government-could-hide-existence-of-records-under-foia-rule-proposal/single">we reported</a> that a proposed Freedom of Information Act rule from the U.S. Department of Justice would allow agencies to tell requesters of certain law-enforcement or national security records that the information did not exist -- even if it did.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-03-21/html/2011-6473.htm">measure</a> riled open-government advocates and some members of Congress, who have pushed for greater federal transparency.</p>
<p>Thursday, DOJ said it had withdrawn the measure from its final regulations.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/110311WeichToGrassley-Leahy-FOIA.pdf">a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley</a>, R-Iowa, one of several members of Congress who had questioned the proposal, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich said that the measure would not be included in the DOJ's final rule.</p>
<p>"The Justice Department decided that misleading the American people would be wrong, and made the right decision to pull the proposed regulation," Sen. Grassley said in a statement.</p>
<p>The Justice Department has not set a date for when it plans to release its final regulations.</p>
<p><em>This <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/government-cans-proposal-to-hide-records/single#republish">post</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.propublica.org/">ProPublica</a>.</em></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/justice-department-ditches-proposed-foia-rule-that-would-hide-public-records-2011-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>